Played in Japan: Michael Kors' New Stores

The designer's larger-than-life personality and sexy, body-conscious designs have already made him a celebrity in America. Now Kors is taking over Japan—and bringing Anne Slowey (and Kors fan Jennifer Hudson!) along for the ride

"The swans! The swans!" yells Michael Kors as he jostles his way through a parade of flamboyantly costumed people in Tokyo's historic Asakusa district. No, he hasn't stumbled upon a Japanese remake of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Rather Kors and his husband, Lance LePere, fresh off the plane from store openings in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, have run smack into the National Culture Day Parade while trying to locate their favorite Tokyo boîte. The two, who were married in August 2011, discovered it on a romantic trip here three years ago.

Along with Kors' longtime friend, singer and Academy Award–winning actress Jennifer Hudson, they are in town to celebrate Kors' store openings in Omotesando and Roppongi Hills tomorrow. Call it fashion kismet. Only someone with as much Borscht Belt bravado as Kors could appreciate the overt theatricality of what, were it not for the geriatric contingent, could pass for the Gay Pride Parade in New York. "I think the restaurant is just over by that temple," Kors shouts, as a troupe of elderly women wearing draped white dresses and beautifully wrought feathered headdresses dance through the intersection he is trying to cross. "Oh, Shibuya!" he adds, giddy at the sight of all the colorful costumes filling the streets. "Björk should have worn these to the Oscars."

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Clockwise from top left: Revelers listen to Hudson perform; PYTs wearing Michael by Michael Kors; the glass tent in the embassy garden.

Kors, the Jackie Mason of the fashion industry, rarely misses a beat. He woos crowds even when he doesn't speak the language. With his witty comebacks as a judge on Project Runway, he has become a bona fide celebrity and an ambassador for American fashion all over the globe. So even as the throngs are dutifully focused on the heritage celebration at hand, it's not long before the designer draws his own crowd of revelers and fans. As he tours the shops surrounding the Hozomon Gate at the Senso-ji Temple, well-wishers watch him try his luck with a fortune-telling game. Women giggle as he fondles a tortoiseshell barrette. "Five thousand dollars? I need it!" he gasps, as crowds swarm him for autographs. Children clamor to interview him for school projects as he has his picture taken in front of O-Waraji, a giant woven straw sandal. Which causes him to exclaim, "My left foot!" and "Does André Leon Talley know he left his slipper here?" Later, a little farther down a cobblestone lane, a group of geishas clickety-clack over to ask for a fabric recommendation.

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Back in the States, Kors' gregarious personality has made him an icon of American fashion. In Asia, and particularly Tokyo, where he now has 11 stores, he is all-celebrity and is attracting a new, younger group of fans who represent a demographic that has breathed life (and billions of dollars) into the luxury market at a time when the economy is still struggling. "Most of my customers here wear Michael," Kors, 52, says of his younger, more vibrant line of party dresses and separates. "But don't get me wrong. These girls obsess over details. They love fashion but are not victims. The days of the Harajuku Girl are over."

Left: Kors shopping in Tokyo; center (2): partygoers at the embassy; right: Kors and Hudson strike an official embassy pose.

For Kors, the party in Japan and the store openings, which bring to 203 the number of his boutiques worldwide, are the culmination of years of hard work, doubling as something of a lifetime achievement award. The U.S. Embassy in Paris feted the designer last March with an exclusive dinner and performance by Mary J. Blige, celebrating his 30 years in the fashion business. Another U.S. Embassy dinner, here in Tokyo, is less formal (guests were served mini-burgers, fries, and pigs in a blanket) but for Kors, it's almost a celebration of his impending IPO—which will raise nearly a billion dollars in a month—and will mean $111 million for Kors alone. (After the December offering, the company was valued at $3.6 billion. Not bad for a boy from Long Island whose label went bankrupt in the mid-'90s.) "Never say never," Kors says when asked about his upcoming rendezvous with the New Stock Exchange, which he'll attend with his beloved mother, Joan. "But I've worked my ass off for years," he adds.

For the store openings, Kors designed a limited-edition "Hamilton" handbag and two matching wallets in dark pink matte-embossed python and adorned with "Michael ♥ Japan" charms, proceeds of which went to Japan's Red Cross earthquake-relief efforts.

Clockwise from left: Kors with fans; Kors testing his luck at the temple; girls at the embassy party.

At the embassy party, U.S. Ambassador John Roos greets guests while chic PYTs and local celebrities (the model Ai whips up as much a frenzy as Hudson did at the Omotesando store), dressed head-to-toe in Michael, party in the tented garden, nestled amid skyscrapers and the storied Okura hotel across the street.

Hudson, WeightWatchers spokesperson and author of I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down, her new book about dropping a whopping 80 pounds, is amazingly chipper despite having flown in from Chicago with her entourage and two-year-old son, David Daniel Otunga Jr., to perform. "I love Michael. I'd fly anywhere for him," the singer says before performing a medley of hits, including "And I Am Telling You." "The man loves women, and the women love his clothes."